Slayers Celebrate
by Lord Slayer
Summary: Its Yule time, and the entire Slayers gang meets up at Seyruun Castle to celebrate! But the turkey has gone missing, and servants are being attacked by a strange, large eared monster! Can Lina and the gang save Christmas, er, I mean Yule? Please review
1. Chapter 1: The Feast!

**Author's Note: **Merry Christmas everyone! Here is a little something that I thought everyone might enjoy involving pretty much the entire Slayers cast! This is technically a sequel to my earlier piece- Slayers Reconcile- although it can easily be read by itself. This is a one shot, but as you can tell, I am horrible at keeping short stories shortm so I apologize to everyone for the great length. Yule is a holiday of Germanic origin that celebrates the Winter Solstice which was integrated with the Christian Christmas celebration, and the combining of Yule with Christmas by the Romans is why we have trees and gift exchange so closely tied with Christmas, although Yule itself is still celebrated as a seperate holiday in some countries. Since there is no Jesus in the Slayers World, I decided that the best holiday replacement would be Yule. Thank you all for reading this, please enjoy, and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

**Disclaimer- **Come on, L-Sama! Its Christmas! *bong* Owch! Fine! Alright, I'll do it! *clears throat* Sniff, sob, no, I don't own Slayers, sob, and that makes me very sad.

**Slayers Celebrate**

**Part 1: The Feast!**

Twas the night before Yule Day, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a …

"Gourry, out of my way!"

POW!

…Never mind.

"Why, Lina?" Gourry Gabriev groaned as he slid down the wall that he had just been violently slammed into.

Lina Inverse sped down the hallway of Seyruun Castle. The gong that announced that the Yule's Eve feast was ready had been rung, and the young sorceress was not going to let anything- be it dark lords, loved ones, or the Lord of Nightmares herself- get in her way.

Upon coming to the staircase that led down to the floor that the dining room was on, Lina skidded to a stop. Grabbing a hold of the rope of holly that was wrapped around the banister, she tore off a large length of the decorative plant, leapt upon the rail, and slid down, laughing like a small child going down a hill of fresh snow on a brand new sled.

As the giggling, giddy sorceress slid down the polished banister, she used her outstretched hands to push new bands of holly aside. As she passed the landing directly below her own floor, the sorceress barely managed to avoid taking out two figures with her wide spread legs.

"Whoops! Sorry Zel!" Lina called over her shoulder. "Sorry Amelia!"

"I hate how she gets all hyper like this during the holidays," Zelgadis Graywords complained as he helped his female companion back to her feet.

"She just loves the holidays, Mr. Zelgadis, that's all," Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun replied as she made sure that the colorful holiday ribbons that she had put into her hair earlier were still in place.

"Yes, but would it kill her to have just a little bit of dignity?"

"Remember that Yule we celebrated in the Outer Lands?" Amelia giggled, changing the subject.

"Ugh, don't remind me," the chimera groaned. "Filia almost had a heart attack when Lina broke that dragon-crafted vase from before the Koma War."

"Yeah, and let loose that curse that made everyone sing horribly off-key whenever someone tried to talk," the princess laughed.

"And Xellos was the only one unaffected by it, and spent nearly the entire time that the curse was active laughing at us," Zelgadis bristled.

"Well, you have to admit, it was pretty funny at first, and after the curse finally evaporated."

"If you say so."

As the two friends talked, Gourry slowly came down the stairs towards them, supported by a tall, yet shy-looking girl with indigo hair and a cape.

"Has Ms. Lina already been through here?" Sylphiel Nels Lahda of Sairaag asked.

"Yeah, she just went past us while sliding down the guard rail," Amelia replied to her fellow priestess.

"Oh, dear! And I was going to ask her to apologize for running over Dear Gourry."

"We'll see her in a couple of minutes," Zelgadis assured. "Now let's hurry before she eats all of the food."

"Don't worry about me, Sylphiel," Gourry said kindly as Zelgadis relieved the young priestess of her burden. "I'm made of tougher stuff than that. I have to be. She does that all the time!"

"Oh, Gourry, Dear," the infatuated priestess sighed as she listened to her beloved swordsman laugh it off.

The four friends quickly made their way down the steps, and through the brightly decorated castle. Everywhere they went, servants hustled and bustled about, either to add some finishing touch to the castle's ornamentation, or to help with the soon-to-be served feast. Various Yule carols could be heard wafting through the air at all times.

At last, they arrived at the entrance to the grand dining hall, where they were greeted by the huge Crown Prince Philionel de Seyruun himself.

"Hi, Daddy!" Amelia greeted cheerily.

"Hello Amelia, Mr. Zelgadis, Ms. Sylphiel, Mr. Gourry," replied to each of them in turn.

"Is Ms. Lina already here, Daddy?" Amelia asked, already guessing the answer.

"Oh, err, no," the heavily mustachioed crown prince replied, somewhat embarrassed. "You see, the Grand Dining Hall needs to be used tonight for all of the dignitaries who have come over for Yule, so I'm afraid that you and your group will have to make do with the secondary dining hall. I've already sent Miss Lina there."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. I forgot," replied Amelia.

"It's nothing personal," Prince Phil explained apologetically to the others. "Most of you would all be quiet welcome at the State Yule's Eve Feast; but I just assumed that you kids would all prefer to eat together by yourselves rather than listen to a bunch of old farts trying to impress each other and talk politics. And, um, some of your guests are rather…"

"It's no problem, Your Highness," Zelgadis answered, "We understand perfectly. Several in our group shouldn't be seen associating with the Crown Prince of Seyruun by snooty politicians… And in some cases, not by anyone for that matter."

The big man gave a much-relieved laugh.

"Thank you so very much for understanding! You kids have fun! See you later!"

"Bye, Daddy!" Amelia called as her father returned to the Grand Dining Hall to attend to his guests.

The group turned about and, while following Amelia, made their way to the secondary dining hall.

A few minutes later they entered into a grand hall of marble pillars, brilliantly colored stained glass windows, and a high-vaulted ceiling. In each corner of the room was an enormous Yule tree covered in gold, silver, and crystal ornaments, and topped with a sapphire star.

"I hope that no one minds that we have to eat in the casual dining room," apologized Amelia.

"This is the casual dining room!?" exclaimed Gourry and Sylphiel.

"Casual for large groups," Zelgadis explained, as he had visited the Seyruun Royal Palace more often than Gourry, or even Sylphiel, who lived in Seyruun City.

"Yes, but still…" Sylphiel commented as she continued to stare at the lavish room.

"Who cares? Let's go eat!" Gourry declared, having spotted Lina.

The center of the banquet hall was occupied by a huge, ornately carved mahogany table with matching chairs. This table was covered with silver platters, plates, and bowels of appetizers and soups. The appetizers ranged from shrimp cocktail and oyster soup to spiced Elmekian Bread- an expensive and very hard to make gourmet bread from Gourry's homeland of the Elmekian Empire (any relation to Amelia's signature astral attack is unknown) - and Sairaag-style Venison Stew- a famous dish which uses a specially prepared secret spice made from the autumn leaves of the holy tree Flagoon (said leaves now being a vanishing and valuable commodity). In fact, this particular version of the soup was a secret recipe from Sylphiel's mother's family, and this batch had been made by the young priestess herself.

Gathered around the table for the Yule's Eve Feast was an eclectic group of individuals, consisting of: One redheaded sorcery genius and her stupid, but well-meaning swordsman protector, an orphaned priestess with an unrequited crush for said swordsman, a sorcerer/swordsman chimera, a justice obsessed princess, a former princess turned sluttily dressed sorceress, a dimwitted green haired queen and her former mercenary swordsman husband, a former golden dragon priestess and her adopted ancient dragon son, and a one eyed fox beastman and one eyed ogre who were employees of said golden dragon.

At the head of the table sat the feast's host: Amelia. To Amelia's left sat her sister Naga, who was alternating between handfuls of shrimp and draughts of brandy. Next to Naga sat the mercenary-turned King of Zoana, Zangulus, who was trying very hard to ignore the incessant bickering going on between his wife Martina and the golden dragon Filia.

"Miss Martina!" the former priestess scolded as she pointed at the small bulge in the human girl's stomach. "You shouldn't drink while you're pregnant!"

"Ah, go shove it, Miss Yellow Lizard," Martina replied as she polished off another goblet of wine.

Then with a flip of her curly, green locks, the queen of Zoana added, "It's my body, and I can do whatever I want with it!"

"It's not just your body! It's also the baby's home and development center!" Filia yelled angrily. "And don't call me a yellow lizard! I am a golden dragon!"

"Yellow lizard! Yellow lizard!" Martina taunted as she stuck her tongue out and pulled down an eyelid.

"Oh! You are so selfish, and immature, and…., grrrr!" Filia raged, her hands itching to pull out the mace hidden underneath her skirts and klonk the spoiled brat upside the head.

"Boss!" Jilas, the one-eyed foxman, said as he skillfully tossed the giggling baby Val up and down, "Your tail's sticking out again!"

"Oh, dear!" Filia groaned with an embarrassed blush as she shoved her upraised tail back underneath her pink dress.

Martina laughed with her high-pitched, girly cackle, which was soon answered by a loud, long laugh like that of a howler monkey.

"What a pathetic attempt at arrogant, self-confident laughter!" declared Naga.

"Oh, really?" Martina asked as her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Really! Hoh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

"Hyah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

"Hoh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

"Hyah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

"Hoh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

"Hyah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

"Hoh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

"ENOUGH!!" Zangulus screamed.

This caused young Val to start crying.

"Zangulus!" scolded Martina.

"Jerk!" accused Naga.

Jilas and Filia (with the latter now holding Val) got out of their chairs, walked over, and smacked the black haired swordsman upside the head.

Meanwhile, Zelgadis, Lina, Gourry, Sylphiel, and Jilas' ogre partner Gravos (who were sitting across from Naga, Zangulus, Martina, Filia, and Jilas respectively), and Amelia looked on with mild interest.

"Why didn't baby Val start crying earlier, during that awful laughing contest?" Sylphiel wondered aloud to no one in particular.

"Who knows?" was Lina's only reply.

At that moment, a man in a chef's outfit with a curly, black mustache, and a thick accent entered the dining hall from the adjacent kitchen.

"Prin-cess Amelia," the chef said with a bow, "Ze din-ner is ready to be served. Shall I-,"

"Yes! Yes! Bring it in! Bring it in!" Lina interrupted, banging her silverware on the table.

The chef stared darkly at the sorceress for a moment before turning back to his princess.

Amelia nodded.

The chef bowed once again and returned to the kitchen.

While they were waiting for the food to arrive, Filia was suddenly overcome by a fit of shivers.

"What is it, Ms. Filia?" asked Sylphiel.

"I've just had a feeling. A feeling as if some powerful evil has just appeared within this castle," the shaken dragon replied slowly.

"Is it a mazoku?" asked Amelia.

"I think so," Filia nodded.

The group remained absolutely still, as if they too were trying to sense what Filia had felt. Even Val seemed to understand the situation and had ceased his squirming.

"Din-ner iz served!" the head chef called out suddenly, causing everyone to jump.

The suddenness of Filia's movements spooked Val, causing the infant dragon to begin crying again.

"Bon appetite!" the chef invited with a flourishing bow. At this signal, dozens of cooks with covered platters began to pour into the dining hall.

"Alright! Let's eat!" Lina declared as she shot a triumphant, fork-wielding fist into the air.

"But Miss Lina, shouldn't we do something about the mazoku?" Sylphiel asked as the servant began to remove the soups and other appetizers.

"It can wait," Lina answered as she greedily eyed the new platters being laid down in front of her.

"But Miss Lina!" objected Amelia.

"It can wait!" the red head snapped with finality.

The princess gave a defeated, whine-like whimper.

"Well, I think that Lina's right!" Martina put in suddenly.

Zangulus, Lina, Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis all looked on in shock.

"Don't look so surprised," Martina replied with a mean-spirited grin. "After all, its common knowledge that flat-chested red heads have to be given ample time to stuff their faces before they can be expected to do anything!"

Zangulus groaned tiredly while everyone else (with the exception of Val and Naga) cringed and looked at Lina nervously.

"Gee, thanks, Martina," Lina replied with a painful-looking grimace- the grip of her curled fists easily bending her spoon and fork. "You're such a pleasant person to have around during the holidays."

The queen of Zoana merely gave a self-satisfied chuckle and stuck out the tip of her tongue.

Lina responded in kind.

Martina leaned towards her rival and stuck her tongue out farther.

Lina leaned forward and stuck her tongue out farther as well.

Martina leaned even closer and stuck her tongue out even farther.

Lina leaned in even closer and stuck her tongue out even farther as well.

This continued until both girls were sprawled diagonally across the table, and with their tongues mere centimeters apart.

"Humph, you two are such immature little babies!" Naga said snidely.

In perfect unison, both red haired sorceress and green haired noble turned towards Naga and blew a raspberry.

"Does it ever disturb you how much those two are alike?" Gravos asked, turning to Sylphiel.

"Yes, but we don't ever talk about it," the priestess replied, trying very hard not to stare at the ogre's scarlet glass eye.

At that point, the servants brought in an enormous platter that was over five feet long, three feet wide, and so heavy that it took six men to carry it.

While nearly everyone else simply stared at the enormous covered dish, Lina, Naga, and Gourry took it a step further and stared with a lust-like longing with their tongues hanging out.

Meanwhile, Amelia grinned in a highly pleased manner.

It had taken Seyruun's best hunters nearly three months to find even this one specimen of the elusive Monstrous Sand Turkey, which could only be found in the northern-most edge of the Desert of Destruction.

The princess had briefly considered hiring an experienced chef like Mr. Ashford to prepare a dragon cuisine feast, especially considering how much Miss Lina had been looking forward to it the last time they had gotten close to getting one. However, that plan had been quickly squashed upon remembering that: 1.) It takes half a year to prepare a full-course dragon feast, and 2.) Miss Filia and Val would be coming, and were dragons, and thus it would probably be considered cannibalism to feed them dragon, even if the meat did not come from that of the ryuzoku (intelligent dragon races). In fact, it would probably be highly offensive to them to even be in the same room as people who were dining on a distant cousin. Thus, Amelia had settled upon serving a slightly less rare and much simpler main course for this Yule Feast.

The princess had also decided that it would probably be in her best interest not to tell Miss Lina about having rejected the idea of serving dragon cuisine.

At last, the giant covered platter was gotten over everyone's head, and onto the table.

The head chef jumped onto the table, placed a hand upon the handle of the dish's covering, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen! It iz my proud hon-or to pre-sent to you zis night, one of ze world's most exquis-ite dishes! Behold! For to-night's dining pleas-ure: Ze rare and delicious Monstrous Sand Tur-key! Enjoy!"

With that, the proud chef tugged the great covering off with surprising ease, and jumped to the ground.

Everyone looked on with expectant awe. This was replaced a moment later with either confusion or devastated shock.

The enormous turkey was gone!

"W-what iz zis!?"

"What happened?"

"Sis, is this some kind of bad joke?"

"N-no! Of course not, Gracia!"

"Oh, my!"

"Humph, it seems that Seyruun is rather lacking in courtesy!"

None were more devastated than Lina Inverse, however.

"W-w-what…uh…," the sorceress whimpered with tear-filled eyes.

Literally everyone in the room was now staring at the empty platter. The servants who had been carrying it were especially confused, as they had felt the enormous bird's weight inside as they had carried it. This staring continued for several minutes, with no sounds being made besides Lina's sobbing.

A scream and a crash from the kitchens caused everyone to jump once more, causing the green haired baby to burst into tears again.

Another chef soon burst into the hall, this one's apron covered in splattered pastry.

"Chef Francoise! Chef Francoise!" the poor, disheveled young cook wailed just before collapsing at the head chef's feet. "I was getting the Seyruun-Style Apple Pie and your Chef's Special Family Peach Cobbler out of the oven when I… when I…! Oh, I'm so sorry, Chef!"

"What!?" the head chef demanded, noting the mess on the other man's apron and quickly becoming enraged. "You dropped my pies!? My Seyruun-Style Apple Pie and special family peach cobbler!? You fool! How dare you show your face to me! I should-!"

"B-but it wasn't my fault, sir!" the unfortunate man whimpered. "Just as I was pulling them out from the oven, a tiny creature with huge wings on its head- or maybe those were its ears, I don't know- anyway, it appeared out of nowhere, jumped on my face from the rafters, threw me to the ground, and disappeared. By the time I could see again, it was too late!"

"How dare you!?" the head chef snarled. "Do you take me for a fool!? I will bile you in cook-ing oil, and zen I'll-!"

"Please, wait a moment!" Sylphiel objected, her soft voice somehow catching the enraged chef's attention. "Ms. Filia, didn't you say that you had felt a mazoku materialize a couple of minutes ago?"

"Yes," Filia began, not quite sure at what the human girl was getting at. Then it hit her, and she asked, "Can you sense it too?"

"Yes, I can feel its presence. It's very close, and it seems to be watching us from somewhere nearby."

"Me too!" Amelia declared, standing up in her seat. "I can sense it too! That must be what attacked Jeff!"

"It hardly sounded like an attack…" Zelgadis began.

"You weren't there!" the young man objected.

"…And from the vague description that we did get, it sounds an awful lot like..."

"Cut the chatter, Zel!" Lina declared, her eyes burning with righteous rage. "This nasty little mazoku already stole the main course, and now it's gone and destroyed our dessert! Well, I say that we should go and repay him in kind!"

"Lina, I really don't think that that was a mazoku…"

"Shut up, Zel! Okay, everyone! Let's split up, and search the whole castle for this little creep! Let's go!"

With that, Lina dashed off towards the kitchen to initiate the investigation.

"Don't think that you can hog all of the glory and food for yourself, Lina!" Naga yelled as she gave chase, grabbing a random person and carrying them off to help.

"Zan-gu-lus! Help!" Martina screamed as the laughing Naga dragged her along by the scruff of the neck.

"Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia began, now totally in Justice Mode. "Let's…"

"No."

"But…"

"I said, 'No!'"

"Humph, fine!" Amelia huffed. "Mr. Gourry, Ms. Sylphiel, follow me! We'll go and check on the upper floors!"

With that, the princess grabbed her two older friends by the arm, and half-dragged them away with her.

By now Lina, Naga, and Amelia's gung-ho attitudes had triggered Zangulus' old hunting instincts, and the former bounty hunter was now eager to chase the mysterious creature himself. First, though, he was even more eager to…

"Yeah! Now I can finally get out of these stupid clothes!" the ex-mercenary crowed as her cheerfully tore off his royal robes.

Beneath the robes were his old mercenary swordsman clothes, consisting of: A worn pair of colorless baggy pants, a faded yellow, long-sleeved shirt, a worn vest of the same material and color as the pants, and a long, poncho-like enshroudment cloak*. Attached to his waist was an enchanted longsword with an x-shaped crossguard with a green gem embedded in the center on both side: The Howling Sword II. To complete the image, Zangulus withdrew a grungy, pointed hat that matched his cloak, vest and pants from a hidden pocket within said cloak, and plopped it onto his head.

"Aaah!" the swordsman sighed happily. "Now I finally feel like my old self again! It's been way too long!

"I'll take the basement. You want to come along, Zelgadis?"

"No, thank you."

"Fine, whatever," Zangulus shrugged. "Hey, beastman! Ogre! You two want to come?"

Jilas and Gravos looked over towards Filia. Upon receiving a nod of approval, the two gave a whoop, and followed the rugged swordsman out of the dining hall.

Zelgadis gave a deep sigh.

"I hate it when everyone gets all hyper like this," the chimera complained.

"Why didn't you want to go with Ms. Amelia?" Filia teased as she tickled her baby, causing Val to giggle hysterically.

"Its not that I didn't want to be with her," Zelgadis replied with a small blush. "Its just that she gets unreasonable whenever she gets excited like this."

"I take it that you mean that you have a better plan for catching the creature than running around the palace like a chicken with its head cut off?"

"And to lure out the mazoku," Zelgadis nodded. "We wait here, and allow them to choose the time to show themselves."

"I see."

The forgotten servants and cooks, deciding that they were no longer needed, went off to do whatever.

**End Part 1**

*Enshroudment cloak- or 'shroud cloak for short- is a term of my own invention** referring to those awsome capes that anime characters wear alot that wrap around their whole body. For some reason, I hope that this term gets into mainstream usage someday.

**As far as I know, no one else has used it before me. If so, then I apologize.


	2. Chapter 2: The Search Is On!

**Slayers Celebrate**

**Part 2: The Search Is On!**

By the time that Martina had gotten to her feet and finished brushing the dust from her clothes, the "investigation" had already run into a slight snag…

"What do you think you two are doing!?" screeched Martina at Lina and Naga, who were each munching on an armload of cream puffs. "You two literally dragged me in here to help you, and then you start goofing off! What's the big idea!?"

"Actually, I'm not the one who brought you with me," Lina stated simply. "I didn't even know that you were here until just now." Then the sorceress popped another cream puff into her mouth, and gave a squeal of delight as she bit into the creamy center.

"And anyway," said Naga through a mouthful of puff, "It would be criminal to leave a bunch of perfectly good cream puffs lying around with no one to enjoy them."

"Right, Naga," Lina agreed.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Martina whined.

"Start looking for clues on that big eared mazoku until we finish, then we'll come and help you." Lina replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

The Queen of Zoana growled in irritation at being made to do grunt work.

"Fine!" Martina replied bitterly, "Then I shall pray to the Monstrous Zoamelgustar for guidance! She then withdrew one of her homemade talismans from a pocket in her dress, folded her hands over the charm, closed her eyes, and fell silent.

"The Monstrous Who?" asked a puzzled Naga.

"Zoamelgustar," sighed Lina. "He's some imaginary monster that she made-up; but she actually believes in it and worships it. She's just crazy like that."

"Shut up!" Martina snapped, and then returned to communing with her 'god.'

After about thirty-seconds of 'praying,' Martina opened her eyes and said, "I have spoken to Lord Zoamelgustar, and he has said that I should begin the investigation by doing this..."

Without warning, Martina lunged forward and started grabbing huge handfuls of cream puffs from both Lina and Naga's piles, shoving the little, cream-filled pastry balls into her mouth.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!?"

"Stop that! Hey!"

"There!" Martina declared with a self-satisfied (and cream covered) smirk once all of the cream puffs were gone. "Now there are no more left, and none went to waste. That means that you two can come and help now!"

Grumbling under her breath, Lina stalked off to look for clues of the large eared mazoku. Or something to poison Martina with. Whichever came first.

Martina, with her cheeks now puffed out like a chipmunk (pun intended), now proceeded to finish chewing and swallowing the last of the delicious pastries in her mouth. The spoiled royal also gave a delighted squeal as she savored the taste of cream puffy-goodness.

"Spoiled baby," scoffed Naga as she passed by the queen to follow Lina.

Growling with intense dislike, Martina suddenly grabbed a frying pan off of a ceiling peg and threw it at Naga with all of her might.

"Oooh! A silver piece!" Naga exclaimed, bending down to pick up a coin off of the kitchen floor.

BONK!

"Oops," Martina whispered to herself.

"OW! Who did that!?" Lina demanded, performing an about-face just as Naga stood back up.

"What?" Naga asked obliviously while her old friend stared daggers at her.

"Naga, you idiot! What was that for!?" the redhead demanded as she slugged Naga in the stomach, sending Gracia Seyruun flying.

Naga crashed into Martina, and the two girls continued on until they crashed into a wine rack.

Grumbling to herself once more, Lina stormed off and got busy with the search.

* * *

"What about up here, Amelia?" Gourry asked, pointing towards a large staircase leading up into a small tower room.

Amelia, Sylphiel, and Gourry were now on the third residential floor of the Seyruun Royal Palace, and still had yet to find any sign of the creature.

"Oh, no," Amelia replied, "That goes up to my Grandpa's room."

"King Eldoran?" asked Sylphiel.

"Yep."

"Huh? Your grandpa?" Gourry asked. "How come I've never met him before?"

"Grandpa Eldoran has been very sick for several years," Amelia explained gravely. "He spends most of his time up in his room now, and can't have more than a couple of visitors a day. That's why Daddy has been taking on all of the responsibilities of kingship for so long. There's no reason why anyone would want to bother him."

"But Miss Amelia," Sylphiel objected, "Couldn't a mazoku cause a lot of chaos in Seyruun by killing the king? What would happen then?"

"Then that mazoku would be swiftly crushed by the power of justice!" Amelia declared righteously.

"But that wouldn't do your grandfather a whole lot of good," Gourry pointed out.

"Oh, yeah…," a crestfallen Amelia replied.

The young princess thought for a moment, and then conceded. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a quick peak…,"

Suddenly, one of the large suits of armor which decorated the hallway fell over with a thunderous crash. Out of the chest plate came a small creature no more than one and a half feet tall with large ears, scaly black skin, and a skull-like head.

"Ow," the creature moaned as it rubbed its head, "What caused that to happen?"

"There it is!" Amelia declared.

"It's so tiny!" Gourry commented.

"Why does its voice sound so familiar, though?" Sylphiel wondered aloud.

"No! Wait!" the creature shouted in vain, "Amelia, it's me! Stop!"

"Visfarank!" Amelia declared, punting the creature down the hall with an astral-powered right hook, causing the unfortunate creature to bounce all about down the hall like a pinball.

"Get him, Ms. Sylphiel!" Amelia urged as the two girls gave chase.

"Got it. Flare Arrow!" Sylphiel declared as she fired off a round of her infamously weak (and oddly carrot shaped) fire arrows.

Although most of the arrows merely singed the wallpaper and a couple of expensive paintings, the two that did hit caused the now thoroughly dazed creature to bounce around a bit more.

Amelia and Sylphiel gave a cheer and continued to chase the unfortunate mystery beast. Gourry sighed and followed, hoping to be able to keep the two young women from getting into too much trouble.

At last, Amelia caught up with the bouncing creature once more and slugged it again with a still-glowing fist. With a sick-sounding groan, the unfortunate critter smashed through a small door in the wall, and disappeared down the laundry chute.

"Now we've got it!" cheered Amelia.

"Uh, Amelia!" Gourry tried to warn.

"Miss Amelia, wait!" Sylphiel cautioned.

With much more enthusiasm than rational thought, the young princess flung herself after the creature, banging her head on the narrow walls of the chute in the process.

"Ow, that hurt!" whined the princess.

"Y-y-you crazy girl!" the creature shouted from the bottom of the chute, several floors down.

"I am not a crazy girl!" the hyperactive princess of Seyruun shouted back.

Gourry and Sylphiel wisely chose not to respond to this statement.

"Gaah!" Amelia suddenly cried, "Mr. Gourry! Miss Sylphiel! Help! My head's stuck!"

"Crazy girl!" the creature shouted back.

"I'm not a crazy girl! I am a champion of justice! Mr. Gourry! Miss Sylphiel! Heeeelp!"

The warrior and the priestess sighed in unified exasperation.

* * *

A few minutes later…

"There he is!" Zangulus yelled triumphantly. "Get him!"

"Gaaaagh! Where did these crazies come from!?" the tiny creature shouted as he fled from his newest pursuers.

"Haa!" yelled Zangulus, slashing the air with his sword, triggering the weapon's enchantment. A cyclone of magically charged air blasted through the narrow hallway.

"Fireball!" the creature yelled, spinning around and launching a blast of fire at the incoming attack.

The Fireball detonated on contact with the cyclone, forcing Zangulus and his party to stop to avoid being blown away, and allowing the creature to move even faster for a short period by gliding on the expanding currents of air with his wing-like ears.

Undiscouraged, Zangulus and his companions pressed on.

"My turn! My turn!" Jilas declared, withdrawing a pair of flintlock pistols from the depths of his 'shroud cloak. The fox beastman raised his weapons as he ran, took careful aim, and fired.

One shot went wide, while the other parted the mowhawk-like tuft of hair on the creature's head neatly in half.

"Why me!?" the creature whined to himself. "Damn you to hell Purple Hair Guy!"

Jilas returned his now spent pistols to the holsters beneath his cloak and withdrew another pair.

Four more shots were fired, leaving Jilas with six empty pistols. Though the shots fired forced his quarry to dance a bit, none managed to actually hit.

"You call yourself a marksman?" Gravos snorted as he moved to the head of the hunting party. "Watch this!"

Strapped to Gravos' back was an oversized great sword. Cradled in the ogre's arms, though, was a large blunderbuss that was really more of a small cannon than a rifle.

Raising the weapon to his shoulders, the ogre took aim and fired without stopping.

At the last second, the large-eared creature ducked around a corner. As he ran, the critter gulped as he listened to a large chunk of wall being blown away.

"Hahaha! You missed him too, Boss!" Jilas laughed, only to be clonked upside the head by his friend.

"You two got any more Outer World tricks?" Zangulus asked.

"A few…," Jilas grinned slyly.

As they rounded the corner, the foxman threw his cloak wide open, revealing over a dozen small bombs.

"Say hello to my little friends!" Jilas shouted with a manic grin.

Pulling two bombs off of their flint clips- thus triggering the fuses- the fox then hurled the black spheres after his target.

The twin explosions sent the creature sprawling, and temporarily partially deaf.

"Ha-ha! Finish him, Jilas!" urged Gravos.

"Right, boss!" the fox answered as he hurled another pair of explosives.

"Diem Wind!"

Jilas and Gravos screamed as the magical wind pushed the bombs back towards them.

Zangulus, however, calmly countered with another blast from his Howling Sword.

The counterattack not only extinguished the fuses, but it also overpowered the Diem Wind and sent the disabled bombs flying into a storage room which lay straight ahead.

Realizing that he was beat, the creature flung himself into this room, and shut the door.

"We've got him now!" Gravos cheered.

"Dead end ahead!" cackled Jilas, "He's trapped for sure!"

"Don't get cocky, you two," ordered Zangulus, "Never underestimate your opponent!"

"Yes, sir!" the foxman and ogre replied.

As they approached the door, Gravos moved back to the front once more and drew his massive sword. With a mighty roar, the one-eyed ogre smashed the door to splinters with a single blow.

The three struck fearsome battle poses as they came to a stop within the storage room. Zangulus held his sword up in front guard position. Gravos stood up straight with his great sword resting upon his shoulder. Jilas crouched menacingly with a bomb in each hand.

Other than a large number of dusty old crates and chests, nothing could be seen within the room.

Nothing could be heard either, except for the hiss of the foxman's lit bombs.

"Put those out!" Zangulus shouted.

"There's not enough room in here for those, you fool!" added Gravos. "You'll blow us all to bits!"

Realizing his mistake, Jilas shoved both fuses into his mouth and smothered the flames with a combination of his tongue, saliva, and the roof of his mouth. Then the unfortunate foxman dropped the bombs, and began to hop about and yell in pain.

"Where did he go?" asked Gravos.

"He's probably hiding in one of these boxes," Zangulus replied. "Search them!"

As the two taller beings began to search, Jilas continued to dance around in pain from his burnt mouth.

Suddenly, noticing a slight breeze coming from directly above him, the foxman looked up. His single eye bulged in surprise upon seeing a three-foot wide hole in the room's roof leading up to the next floor; and a hole directly above that, and another hole directly above that. Hovering at the top of this shaft was the small creature, holding a bomb from the second volley in each hand and grinning evilly.

Screaming, Jilas ran towards Gravos, and jumped onto the ogre's back.

"Jilas! What do you think you're doing!?"

"Boss! Boss! Boss!" the foxman stammered, pointing at the hole in the roof.

Suddenly, two black spheres with sparking fuses fell out of this hole, making a sound like two bowling balls filled with sand hitting a concrete floor from ten feet up. A plug of ice instantly filled up the hole

Zangulus, Gravos, and Jilas watched in fascinated horror as the lit bombs rolled towards, and came to a stop next to, the pair that the foxman had just extinguished with his mouth.

Jilas broke the trance with another scream, which was quickly picked up by the other two.

"Run!" Zangulus yelled unnecessarily, as the trio had just turned to do exactly that.

Then the bombs went off.

**End Part 2**


	3. Chapter 3: The Mysterious Creature

**Slayers Celebrate**

**Part 3: The Mysterious Creature Revealed!**

Lina grumbled unhappily as she placed an icepack on her head and thought back to the rest of the day's troubles: The turkey had been stolen, the dessert ruined, she had been smacked in the head by a frying pan, she had to look for the creature by herself for an hour without success, the rest of the dinner was probably cold by now, and to top it all off, her head still hurt from the frying pan. If it wasn't that the sorceress usually made it a point not to blow stuff up excessively during the holidays- and because she was currently in one of the most sacred of places imaginable: a kitchen- she would have long ago blown a crater into the side of the castle.

While Lina had been fruitlessly searching for signs of the long-eared creature, however, Naga and Martina had been getting into the wine that they had been thrown into. After several drinks, the two young women had begun to be friends, and were now chattering drunkenly about whatever popped into their minds and singing Yule Carols off-key.

Lina suspected that this latter activity had a lot to do with why her head still hurt.

"Shin-zo-ku we have heeeeeard on high!" they sang, "Sweetly sing-ing- uh, something- o'er the plains! Glo-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-O-ri-a…"

"Okay! Fine! There's nothing here! Let's go!" shouted Lina, giving in at ladt.

The two inebriated former princesses leaned upon eachother as they attempted to follow Lina out of the kitchen.

"Hey, Naga!" Martina giggled drunkenly, "Wanna know a song that I once heard Lina sing?"

Lina stopped in her tracks.

"Lina singing!?" Naga answered excitedly, "This I gotta here!"

The redhead was by now more than quite willing to break her holiday resolution. However, she could not bring herself to attack a pregnant woman, even one as annoying as Martina. Then there was Naga, who, though Lina would happily blow-up any day of the week, was too close to Martina to cast a spell 'safely.'

Frustrated by her predicament, the sorceress gritted her teeth and quickened her steps.

Lina reached the dining table and took her previous spot besides Zelgadis, while the staggering women behind her swapped stories.

"How did it go?" Zelgadis asked smugly, clearly hiding something

"Don't ask," Lina replied, not caring about whatever the chimera had discovered. She then allowed her head to fall forward and hit the table, then plopped the ice pack onto the top of her cranium.

Filia scowled darkly at the drunken Martina while bouncing Val on her knee.

At about this time, Gourry, Sylphiel, Amelia, Zangulus, Jilas, and Gravos returned. Although the blond swordsman and the priestess were completely unharmed, they were the only ones. Amelia was holding her very sore head and groaning loudly; while an extra-crispy Zangulus, Jilas, and Gravos coughed-up smoke every few steps.

"Let me guess," Filia said as she looked over at the three smoke-blackened newcomers, "Jilas' bombs got you, right?"

"Yes," Gravos replied tonelessly.

"I keep telling you to be careful with those things, Jilas!" the golden dragon scolded.

"B-b-but it wasn't my fault!" Jilas stuttered.

"Zangulus!" Lina cried, suddenly running up to the dark haired swordsman and grabbing him by the collar. "Is there anything that I can do to Martina!?"

"Huh?"

"Is there anything that I can do to Martina!?" the sorceress repeated while roughly shaking the king of Zoana. "She and Naga have been driving me crazy for the last hour, and I have to do something to them, or I'll blow a gasket! But I can't hurt them, because I don't want to hurt the baby!"

"Oh, er, well…," stammered Zangulus, "Um, there is something that you and the others should probably know, but I don't think that I can tell you that if you're just going to use it to hurt her…"

"Damn if I care!" shouted Lina as she put the swordsman into a viscious headlock.

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you!" Zangulus choked. "Just so long as she doesn't know that I told you…"

"Girls who are iiiiiin love!" Martina and Naga suddenly began to sing loudly, "Give their love toooo you!"

"I think that she's plenty distracted," Lina growled as she tightened her grip, "Now talk!"

"Okay, fine! The truth is, Martina isn't really pregnant!"

"She isn't?" Lina asked, blinking in surprise.

"Well, not anymore at least. She had our baby three months ago, but Zangulus, Jr. had a cold, so we had to leave him back home with his nanny."

"But the bulge-,"

"Its just left over from her pregnancy. She's been having trouble getting rid of it, and she's really embaressed about it. That's why she's been having us say that she's pregnant again."

"She has, has she?" Lina said with an evil grin, releasing the swordsman.

Then, with a much-less scary-looking expression on her face, the redhead added, "Oh, and congrats on the baby, Zangulus."

"Um, thanks," the warrior answered shakily as Jilas and Gravos helped to pick him up off the ground.

As Lina turned, she found Filia standing before her.

"You got all that?"

"Yes, I did," Filia replied indignantly, "And I think that that is just despicable! Feigning pregnancy for the sake of one's vanity! Hmph! What is this world coming to?"

"Um, incidentally, Filia," Lina said curiously, as an idea had rush randomly popped into her head. "Do dragons get big when they get pregnant, or do they just look the same until they're ready to pop out an egg or two, or three, or however many you can have at once?"

"Excuse me!?"

"Er, nevermind. Random thought. Just forget it. Anyway, would you mind if I did a little something to our tipsy princess over there?"

"No, I wouldn't mind in the least." The golden dragon replied as she held young Val to her chest. "In fact, I insist that you do; because if you don't, then I will, and I don't want to set a bad example for Val."

"Great!" exclaimed Lina Inverse.

Moving over to where Martina and Naga were swaying semi-rhymatically together, Lina called the two girls' names to get their attention. The two turned back to look.

"Fireball," Lina stated, snapping her fingers with a malicscious grin.

Naga and Martina screamed as they spontaneously burst into flames.

"Aaaah! That felt good!" said Lina as she stretched her arms out.

"So…mean…Lina-chan…," Naga groaned.

"Attacking a pregnant woman!" Martina whined from the ground, "You're evil, Lina!"

"Oh, please! As if you're really pregnant!" the sorceress snapped.

Then, in a slightly kinder voice, she added, "And congratulations on the real baby, by the way."

"T-thank you…"

Meanwhile, Amelia continued to groan in pain as she laid her head down upon the table.

"So, what happened to you, Amelia?" Zelgadis asked kindly.

"I don't want to talk about it, Mr. Zelgadis," moanded Amelia. "And besides, you'd probably just laugh."

"No, I won't."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Okay, well," the princess began, "Mr. Gourry, Miss Sylphiel, and I were chasing that mazoku upstairs, and it dived down the laundry chute, and I tried to follow, and…and…"

Amelia looked about cautiously before continuing. Gourry had reseated himself, and had begun to steal food from out of the nearest platter on the table. Meanwhile, Lina was helping Sylphiel and Filia heal their more seriously injured party members.

"…And I got my head stuck!" Amelia moaned with tears in her eyes, far more loudly than she had intended. "A hero of justice, getting her head stuck in a laundry chute! Oh, how embaressing! What will Daddy think?"

The princess broke off from her lament to stare accusingly at her chimera bodyguard/love interest, who was struggling not to laugh.

A moment later, she hid her face in embaressment as everyone else- with the exception of Gourry and Sylphiel- broke out laughing.

"You got stuck in a laundry chute!?" Martina laughed as she leaned upon her chair for support. "What a silly little baby! Won't you ever grow up?"

"Won't you?" Amelia snapped back, the vibrations from her voice somehow causing the legs of Martina's chair to slip and sending the queen of Zoana falling back to the floor.

"You got stuck, Sis?" laughed Naga. "Why on earth would you go and do a thing like that?"

"I didn't do it on purpose, Gracia!" Amelia defended, "I was chasing the mazoku, and I guess I got carried away, and…"

"Hold on a moment," Zelgadis interupted, having regained his composure. "Did this 'mazoku' happen to look and sound a lot like Pokota?"

"No, it di-," Amelia began, but then paused and corrected herself. "Yeah, now that I think about it, it actually kinda did. Except it had-"

"A skull head and black scales?" Filia suggested with a grin.

By now, everyone was paying close attention.

"Y-yeah," a surprised Amelia stammered. "H-how did you know?"

"Because, Zelgadis and Filia were the only ones with enough sense not to attack me as soon as they saw me!" exclaimed a small, large-eared creature as it jumped up onto the table from where it had been hiding underneath Zelgadis' chair.

The creature was quite small, only about one-and-a-half feet tall; though with a disproportionatley sized head that was about the size of its torso. Even more disproportiante to its body were its large, floppy ears, which were nearly twice as long as it body and ended with four finger-like projections. It wore no clothes, except for a small, red cape tied around its neck, and a zipper built into its torso. The creature's whole body was covered in beige fur which abruptly turned lime green at the tips of the ears. There was also a tuft of purple hair shaped into a small mowhawk on the top of its head, and a golden bangle was slipped over one of its ears. In one of the creature's stubby arms it held up a skull mask, and in the other a suit of fake black scales.

"Pakota!" exclaimed Lina.

"Mr. Pokota!" shouted Sylphiel and Amelia.

"Tiny, big-eared guy!" said Gourry.

The small chimera balled the hand-like end of his right ear into a fist and punched the swordsman in the face while shouting, "My name is Pokota!"

"So, what's a Pokota?" asked Zangulus.

"That would be me!" declared the small chimera as he stood upon the table, threw away the mask and suit, and struck a pose. "Prince Posel Korba Taforashia: Crown Prince of the kingdom of Taforashia!"

"I always thought that Taforashia was a human kingdom," a puzzled Naga stated. "I didn't know that its royal family was made up of…, um, Pokotas."

Pokota turned to give Gracia Seyruun a severe verbal lashing, but stopped when he saw the older woman's unconcealed figure. The cursed prince stared for several seconds with bulging eyes (much to Amelia's embaressment, and Lina's annoyance).

The chimera's own rapid sniffling awoke him from his trance.

With an embaressed blush, Pokota grabbed the napkin from Lina's spot, rolled it up, and shoved both ends up his nose.

Naga felt herself grow quesy and light-headed at the prospect of having to see blood.

Once he had his nose under control, Pokota cleared his throat and explained with uncharacteristic politeness, "The name that I go by is Pokota. It's a nickname that takes the first two letters from each part of my real name: Po-sel Ko-rba Ta-forashia. That is: Po-ko-ta. See?"

"Mmm-hmm," Naga nodded, following along.

"And this isn't my real body," the prince continued on with his now-nasaly voice. "I was originally human, but my mind and soul were magically transferred into this chimera body so that I could work to help my people without falling victim to Durum Disease."

"Who would do such a thing?" a horrified Naga asked.

"Rezo," growled Zelgadis, as if his hated great-grandfather was the source of all the world's woes.

"Oh, you poor thing!" crooned Martina as she wiped a tear from her eye.

"Ummm, it wasn't that sad," Pokota stated.

"Yeah, yeah, its all so very sad," Lina ranted as she brought a fist down onto the table. "But where's the turkey, and why the hell did you take it, Pokota!?"

"And why were you running around in that goofy costume, and letting us think that you were some kind of diminutive mazoku?" Zangulus demanded. At about this time, a still-live ember from the earler explosion caused the very tip of his hat to catch fire.

"What ARE you doing here anyway, Mr. Pokota?" asked Amelia.

"First off," Pokota snapped, returning to his usual obnoxious demeanor, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about! Second, I wasn't wearing that stupid costume by choice, and I would have taken it off if I could have!"

"But then how did you-?" Zangulus began, unaware of the fire that was slowly making its way down his hat.

"Zelgadis and the dragon priestess helped me to get it off," Pokota interrupted angrily, "In no small part to the fact that they didn't attack on sight like some other people did!"

Sylphiel, Amelia, Jilas, and Gravos looked down shame-faced. Zangulus merely crossed his arms, looked away, and gave an unrepetant "Humph!"

Gourry justed stared at his rival's hat in alarm.

"And thirdly-," began Pokota.

"Zangulus! Your hat's on fire!" Gourry finally yelled.

Everyone turned to look as the black haired swordsman stared up at his hat.

Zangulus gave a surprised yelp, and threw his hat up in the air, which landed on his wife's lap.

The queen of Zoana began to scream, yell, and run about like a lunatic as she was set aflame once more.

Zangulus paused to stomp out the fire from his hat, and return it to his head before going to the aid of his wife.

Meanwhile, little Val laughed merrily at the silliness.

"Aqua-," began Amelia, Sylphiel, Lina, Pokota, and Zelgadis.

"Freeze Arrow!" shouted Naga, putting out the flames and turning her new friend to ice in a single move.

Amelia groaned once again in embaressment.

"Okay, now what were you saying?" asked Zangulus as he turned back to Pokota.

"Mr. Zangulus!" Filia exclaimed angrily. "Aren't you the least-bit concerned about your wife's welfare!?"

"What do you care?" Zangulus replied sardonically. "I thought that you didn't like her."

"Well-," Filia began, taken aback.

"In any case," the swordsman went on, "I don't know whether to call it a charmed life, or a cursed one, but Martina seems to be impervious to any kind of permanent damage from stuff like this. Which is good- I guess- because this kind of thing happens to her at home all the time."

"And when she was following me around," added Lina.

"Right. So relax, she'll be fine."

"I see…," Filia answered, not quite sure how to respond.

"As I was saying," Pokota continued, "Thirdly: I'm here because I thought that you had invited me, Amelia."

"Well, I did," a confused Amelia began, "But the letter that I sent to you got mailed back two days ago unopened, so I assumed that you hadn't gotten it."

"Sent…back?" a stunned Pokota asked.

"A costume that you wore against your will, and couldn't remove by yourself?" Sylphiel wondered aloud.

"And a mysterious, vanishing turkey…," pondered Lina, slowly putting things together. "This sounds an awful lot like…"

"I believe that I may be able to explain," a familiar voice echoed from the astral side.

Suddenly, the huge, empty platter that was supposed to have held the turkey mysteriously vanished.

A moment later, a grinning man with purple hair and a black and green cape teleported into the room. Tucked into the man's armpit was a black, crooked staff with a red gem at the top, and in both arms he held the platter and the enormous vanished turkey.

"Xellos!?" nearly everyone in the room exclaimed in surprise; although Lina's voice contained an obvious strain of irritation, while Zelgadis, Filia, and Pokota's voices were filled with extreme loathing.

Val began to cry at the mazoku's appearance.

"So, you're the mazoku that I smelled earlier!" Filia exclaimed angrily as she tried to comfort her adopted son once more.

"That's right," the trickster priest replied as he floated to the ground and carefully returned the turkey and platter to the dinner table. "Although I confess that I am shocked that you didn't recognize my scent. I guess the golden dragons really aren't all that great after all."

Filia growled angrily ashe she handed Val off to Jilas and reached underneath her skirt.

"You're the one who made sure that Mr. Pakota got an invitation here tonight, didn't you, Mr. Xellos?" accused Amelia.

"And the one who stuffed me into that stupid costume, and dropped me onto that cook's face!" Pokota snapped angrily, now having removed the bloodied napkin from his nose.

"And the one who stole the turkey!" Lina raged.

"Exactly!" Xellos responded to all charges at once with a chuckle.

"But why did you do all of those things, Mr. Xellos?" asked Sylphiel.

In response, the high ranked mazoku subordinate to Greater Beast Zelas Metallium opened a single eye, wagged his index finger tauntingly, and said, "That's a secret!"

Fed up, Lina, Pokota, Filia, and even Zelgadis all jumped on him.

Xellos gave a half-laugh, half-fake gag as Lina put him into a strangling headlock. However, as Zelgadis began to kick him in the side, and Pokota began to bite his face, the trickster began to wonder if he had perhaps gone too far in creating a physical body realistic enough to feel pain. When Filia removed the mace from her garter belt and brought it down upon the mazoku's head, he decided that that was indeed a distinct possibility.

"Go get 'em, boss!" Jilas cheered, while Val laughed happily.

"Yeah! Vengance for Lord ValGaav, er, I mean Lord Val!" Gravos added.

Zangulus and Naga laughed uproariously at the sight, while Sylphiel observed the scene with morbid fascination.

Gourry watched the beating with mild interest while munching on a turkey leg.

Amelia groaned once again in embaressment at her friends' behavior, particularly Zelgadis'.

Martina continued to thaw.

Several minutes later, a twitching Xellos lay sprawled out upon the floor, while his attackers wiped the dust from their hands.

"Let that be a lesson to you for spouting that annoying phrase of yours off so frivolously," Zelgadis snarled.

"And perhaps learn to be less irritating," Filia put in.

"Oh, but Filia!" Xellos replied with a smile. "Its so much fun to irritate people! Especially whiney, thin-skinned yellow lizards."

"Die!" Filia screamed, lunging with her mace held high.

Amelia and Sylphiel dived out of their seats to hold the priestess back.

"Oh, Master Xellos!" whined Martina, who had just broken out of her icy prison. "Why must you toy with people's hearts so?"

"Um, okaaay…" Xellos replied with confusion.

"Martina," Lina began with a groan, "What on earth does that have to do with any of- hey! Gourry! What do you think you're doing!?"

"Uh-oh, busted," Gourry gulped through a mouthful of meat, and with a second drumstick in hand.

"Gourry!" Lina growled, holding out the _y_, just before tackling him.

"No fair Lina, Gourry!" Naga declared, "Don't you dare eat all of the food!"

"They better not!" Pokota put in, also making a dash for the turkey.

Quickly realizing what was happening, everyone else rushed back to their spots in order to grab something before Lina, Gourry, Naga, and Pokota could eat it all.

"Oh, dear," Xellos sighed as he got back to his feet. "I guess there's nothing more that I can do to stop this happy Yule celebration. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted; and I'm sure that Lord Beastmaster got a few kicks out of it as well."

With that, Xellos teleported away.

Very few noticed the mazoku's disappearance, however. The group was too busy enjoying themselves.

Once everything was semi-settled, Amelia stoop up from her seat, raised her glass, and said, "I propose a toast! A toast to friendship, to family, and to another happy New Year filled with fun and adventure!"

"I'll drink to that!" Lina replied as she raised her glass as well.

"Hear, hear!" the others responded with their own glasses raised; though Gourry actually said "Heard, heard," causing Lina to sigh in annoyance.

"Merry Yule!" Amelia declared as she drained her glass- the others following suite. "And a Happy New Year!"

**The End**

**Author's Note- **I hope that you all enjoyed this story, and that you all have a happy New Year!


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